Late night in the common room
by Potterhead123
Summary: Late one night in the common room, over a History of Magic Essay , Lily Evans and James Potter get to talking...and maybe more.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She was in the Gryffindor common room, curled up on the rug, by the crackling fire. It was late at night, and everyone else had left, one by one, leaving her alone. She was scribbling feverishly, trying to finish a History of Magic essay due the next day – no, actually, later that morning. She looked up, chewing on her quill thoughtfully, and gasped when she saw someone standing at the base of the spiral staircase leading up to the boys' dormitory, watching her. He stepped forward, into the light, and she scowled.

"Potter. What are you doing here?"

"It's called the common room, Evans. That means I have as much right to be here as you do."

She made a face at this, and he chuckled, and made his way slowly towards her. He sat down in an armchair, making himself comfortable, as if he was going to be staying a while. He smiled, his eyes on her face. She glared at him, and then went back to her essay, looking up every so often, invariably finding him watching her, an amused expression on his face.

Finally, she said, irritably, "What the hell, Potter? Are you just going to sit there and stare at me all night? Because it's really starting to get on my nerves."

To her surprise, he only grinned. "I guess so. It's a pretty beautiful sight."

She snorted. "Oh, _please_! Could you _be_ any cheesier?"

This time he actually laughed. "Um, no. I guess not."

Forgetting, for a moment, 6 years of history, she smiled back at him.

"What are you working on?" he asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"Binns' essay on Merlin's involvement in the ancient Goblin wars. I'm not even close to being done though." She grimaced.

He gasped, and stood up suddenly. "Oh, damn! I totally forgot about that! I got back late from Quidditch practice, and… I've only got maybe three pieces of parchment done! Er… I'll be right back."

He ran up the stairs, four at a time, leaving Lily sitting on the floor, staring at the staircase up which he had just gone. She laughed softly, shaking her head, her fingers resting lightly on her lips.

"James," she murmured, and then shook her head crossly and bent over the parchment and books, once more.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

She looked up as he came back into the room, a lot less gracefully, and a lot more noisily, this time. She put her hand over her mouth to stifle a grin. He was carrying a pile of books that nearly obscured his vision, and a scroll of parchment was tucked under his arm. A quill was in his mouth, and an inkpot was precariously perched on top of all the books.

He made his way over to the fireplace, and plopped everything down next to her.

"So, er…how would you like to help me out a bit?"

She glared at him. "I've been working on this for hours. Do your own work!"

He nodded. "Ok. That's fair."

She looked at him for a moment, surprised, and then went back to her own work, searching in the index of one of the books for Gergo the Gigantic.

A moment later, though, he sighted loudly. "_Please_…?" He looked at her, his bottom lip out in a pout, his eyes shining. "You can't resist my puppy-dog face."

She giggled. "Watch me." She went to turn back to her work, but looked up at his pathetic face again, and sighed, loudly and exaggeratedly. "What do you want?"

He smiled, white teeth flashing in his tanned face. "Do you understand what the hell the fountain of youth had to do with anything? I mean, do they even know if it existed?"

"Well… I read in In the Age of King Arthur…The True Merlin that the Goblins were convinced by a dark wizard named Sherwood to try to steal the key to the fountain from Merlin. Here, let me show you." She reached across him to grab a large blue book. As she held it out for him, her fingers brushed his. She let her fingers rest lightly on his for a second, looking him right in the eye, but then she shivered, and snatched her hand away. After a moment's silence, she said, "Um… here it is. And did you get anything about Merlin's sister? Binns mentioned that'd be important, didn't he?"

"Yeah, I think he did. I looked in this book for it, and I think… " He trailed off, a bemused expression on his face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She was staring at him, her chin resting on her fist. Her lips twitched up at the corners.

"What?" he demanded, confused.

"Nothing," she replied, suddenly embarrassed. "It's just," she continued, a little shy, "I don't really know you, do I, James Potter?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Well… Everyone thinks I hate you…"

"Don't you?"

"I don't know… not as much as I thought I did. You know, you haven't done that stupid thing with your hair once this whole time."

"Oh, that –" he grinned, and waved a hand dismissively. "That is _so_ third year."

She giggled. "Um… yeah – and fourth, and fifth, and sixth…"

"But this year, there's an all new me!" He said this last in the deep voice of a muggle television announcer, and Lily smiled.

"I guess I never really took the time to get to know you… hmmm…why exactly do I feel a muggle song coming on?"

"Getting to know you… Getting to know all about you…" James crooned.

"How do you know that?"

"Hey, I get around… er, not like that. I mean I've seen some muggle movies too. Sirius rented The King and I because he thought it was some kind of muggle porn…" He chuckled at the memory, and she erupted into laughter, imagining Sirius Black's disappointment. Then she sighed.

"I guess we should really finish these essays."

James nodded, but didn't pick up his quill. Instead, he reached out his hand, slowly, and let it rest on top of Lily's. She sucked in her breath, and looked up, her emerald green eyes meeting his deep brown ones. Then he pushed the books that were between them off to the side, and he scooted over, so he was sitting just behind her. She sighed again, and tossed her parchment and quill of to the side. Then…

To be continued…


End file.
